Robin Bisson

UK news editor @ResFortnight @ResProfNews.
Dormant on here, cos it's enshittified.
Active on @robinbisson.bsky.social.
News tip? [email protected]

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

On to the societal impact session at #RPNLive2025, with AHRC exec chair Christopher Smith, LSE's Christopher Daley (@cr_daley), LSHTM's Sumi David, the ISI's Dmytro Filchenko and Glasgow University's Kathryn Oliver

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

Next panel at #RPNLive2025 sees Clarivate’s Nandita Quaderi, Clear Skies founder Adam Day, Springer Nature’s Chris Graf, Taylor & Francis’ Nick Wise and ESRC’s Stian Westlake discuss threats to research integrity.

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

The first #RPNLive2025 panel session sees UCL’s Graeme Reid, University of Manchester’s Andy Westwood, Case exec director Alicia Greated, N8 director Annette Bramley and the Russell Group’s Stephanie Smith research and inclusive growth.

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

Jessica Corner tells 8am Playbook editor @mgmcquillan that expanded REF PCE strand feels “unchartered” to universities, who want to know which indicators will stay and “which we might drop”. “It is still open for deliberation and design” in coming months, she says. #RPNLive2025

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

The opening session here at #RPNLive2025 is underway! Research England executive chair Jessica Corner tells delegates the UK is still “world leading…really really strong” in R&D.

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

Sarah Richardson (@sarahr100), our editor in chief, getting #RPNLive2025 underway, praising the role of research in driving economic growth, improving public services, and working to give the UK population “a more secure, more sustainable future”.

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Fiona also spoke to Cardiff academics protesting outside the Senedd on Tuesday

Anthony Ince, a senior lecturer in human geography, said: “I’ve got a four-year-old, my wife’s about to be unemployed as well, and it just suddenly felt like, this is real”

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Cardiff uni cutting 400 jobs has sparked calls for a govt rescue package

Wendy Larner, Cardiff's vice-chancellor, told
@FiJMcIntyre that while emergency funding would be welcome, it “only delays the inevitable” and that unis “will need to be different”

https://t.co/JmXkBsTNuW

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

The Data Bill is expected to become law in spring

Two peers explain moves to change the bill’s definition of scientific research as being conducted “in the public interest”, after fears AI companies could have free rein

@Sophie_atRPN reports

https://t.co/OrxJtcGgYW

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Friday: @AstraZeneca says it scrapped £450m investment because the govt lowered its £££ support

Monday: @RhonddaBryant says govt dropped its offer because AZ scaled back R&D plans from £150m to £90m

Pretty interesting to see govt come out swinging

https://t.co/ETigIKi4en

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Julia King, chair of @LordsSTCom, has not pulled her punches when writing to ministers on visa barriers to scientists - particularly those early in their careers

The UK's strict and expensive immigration policy is "an act of national self-harm" she says

https://t.co/KzLswk5fbY

[Frances Jones @frances_jones00]

Scoop: Major national science facilities are in line to be scaled back if anticipated budget cuts at the Science and Technology Facilities Council are confirmed for 2025-26. Cuts inc reductions of around 15 per cent to STFC’s research grants budget, a well-placed source tells me.

[John Womersley @JohnWomersley]

with some thoughts from me on echoes from 2008, when a budget crunch at STFC led to major cuts in astronomy and particle physics funding, and even a front page story in The Times

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Frank statement from Patrick Vallance:

“We know we’re not succeeding as we should be on scale-ups. We’ve got a significant gap in terms of the ability to scale those companies and turn them into things that are sustainable”

By @Sophie_atRPN

https://t.co/oGBfHWynrd

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

Rachel Reeves said in Davos govt will "look again" at visas for "the highest-skilled people"

Cue relief from science groups, but @martinrsmith says unless govt considers high upfront costs "there’s a risk it will just be tinkering at the edges"

https://t.co/TGnIHymLAN

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

The @UniversityLeeds is the first @russellgroup uni to quit X

Leeds says @elonmusk's platform "no longer aligns with our university values of collaboration, compassion, inclusivity and integrity"

Who's next?

https://t.co/kKVglPBup2

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

Cautious optimism as Reeves trails review of visas for scientists.

Research groups have welcomed the chancellor’s announcement of a review of visas for scientists, urging the government to address high upfront costs faced by researchers coming to the UK. https://t.co/fvWsRKdlkS

[Research Fortnight @ResFortnight]

University of Leeds first Russell Group institution to quit X.
https://t.co/LcH0yOM0Ms

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

AI-driven research is shifting up a gear

@demishassabis, the @GoogleDeepMind CEO who won a Nobel, said another company he leads, @IsomorphicLabs, will “hopefully have some AI-designed drugs in clinical trials by the end of the year”

By @CLANicholson

https://t.co/p8NgKsJ3d5

[Robin Bisson @RobinBisson]

The median ethnicity of pay gap at @wellcometrust doubled between 2023 and 2024, from 3.3% to 6.6%

With its median gender pay gap stable at ~16%, the charity says it is "determined to eradicate our pay gaps"

@Sophie_atRPN reports

https://t.co/pHOlpSLn6Y